The Year That Never Was
by Light-Eco-Sage
Summary: COMPLETE! An alternate version of "The Year that Never Was", Series 3 Doctor Who. The Master will do anything to torment the Doctor, even kidnap the woman he loves, just to prove a point. Series 3 Finale with Rose. Language/Romance/slight Sexuality
1. Captured and Kidnapped

**The Year That Never Was**

**By: Light-Eco-Sage**

**Rated: Mature for romance/sexuality and language.**

**Summary: An alternate version of "The Year that Never Was", Series 3 **_**Doctor Who**_**. The Master will do anything to torment the Doctor, even kidnap the woman he loves, just to prove a point.**

**Disclaimer: **_**Doctor Who**_** is owned by the BBC.**

**LES: This story just came to me at work. Naturally, this is a reunion/romance story for Ten and Rose. But it has the Master mixed up in it, screwing everything up. That bastard. But the funny thing about the Master is he's one of those bastards that you love to hate. Oh, and this story assumes that you've seen the Series 3 finale. I don't explain the Toclafanes or the missiles or the paradox. But it's still all happening.**

**Chapter I: Captured and Kidnapped**

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><p>One would think that if you traveled with the Doctor long enough, you'd be sort of used to having his plans go wrong and being forced to improvise. Therefore, Jack and Martha knew that they only had themselves to blame when the Master suddenly revealed that he could see through the perception filter and had swiftly captured their small group.<p>

In the end, their plan to sneak onto the flying base and stop whatever the Master was planning had ended in failure. Captain Jack Harkness was quickly restrained since the Master dubbed the freak as the most dangerous of the lot. Unlike the Doctor, who abhorred the use of weapons, Jack had no problem using deadly force if necessary. It was a cynicism born as a side effect of being more than a hundred years old and unable to die, and from working with Torchwood.

The Doctor was restrained as well, but not as securely as Jack was. And Martha was barely restrained at all. In fact, the Master mocked the Doctor about her. "You are an old fool!" The Master exclaimed. "You've had a companion who could absorb the Time Vortex itself, and now you travel with some useless wench!"

Martha's mouth dropped open in disbelief. "Excuse me…!"

"Stop, Martha." The Doctor hissed at her. "He's just trying to offend you and make you upset. Angry people do not think clearly, am I right?" He directed this last sentence at the Master, who grinned madly.

"Oh, you think you've got me all figured out, don't you?" The Master said in a condescending voice that suggested he was speaking to a small child. "You may have known me the longest, but you don't know me. Not anymore."

"You're right. I don't know you." The Doctor agreed. "The boy that I used to play with would have never done the things that you've done. Staring into the Untempered Schism changed you… drove you mad."

"Changed us both, I think." The Master said. "What about you? Hailed as a young prodigy! Oh, your life was plotted out for you. Everyone thought that you'd go straight to the top. And then it was your turn to gaze into Time itself and what did you do? You ran. Branded yourself a coward, and then a thief for stealing the Tardis, a meddler, and finally, the murderer of your own kind." The Doctor didn't reply. "So, yes, Doctor, continue to preach your high and mighty ideals of non-violence and peaceful cooperation. Deep down inside, we both know that you're just as mad as I am."

"Wait!" Captain Jack Harkness called, tugging against the men who restrained him. "How do you know about Rose absorbing the Time Vortex? No one living except Rose and the Doctor were there! Even I didn't know about that until the Doctor told me. Answer me!"

"Quiet, freak." The Master snapped at him. "The only reason that you are not dead is because I have no way of following through at the moment. Though I do intend to see the full extent of your abilities. For example… can you survive without your head?" Jack didn't respond, but continued to glare at him. "I'll take that as an 'I don't know'. Well, fret not, you shall know soon enough."

"Answer the question." The Doctor hissed.

The Master stared at him. "Oh, well, since you so badly want to know." He moved closer to the window, gazing up at the clouds. "Tell me, Doctor, do you remember our years at the Academy?"

"Of course." The Doctor said.

"So, answer me this… out of the two of us, who became the most advanced in Cosmic Science?" The Master asked.

The Doctor didn't reply for several seconds. "You were the most advanced."

"Yes. Because I was able to hide my madness longer than you could conceal your cowardice. You stole the Tardis and ran away from Gallifrey while I stayed and studied. Those things that are outside your understanding… paradoxes and parallel worlds… these things are child's play to one with my knowledge." The Master met the Doctor's wide eyes. "Ah, yes! Yes! That's my favorite expression… well, besides the look that people wear as they die. But this is a close second: the horror as you begin to realize what I've done."

"How! How!" The Doctor bellowed. "I locked the coordinates on the Tardis! You shouldn't have been able to go anywhere in it except here and the end of the universe! Even you couldn't break through the lock that I put on it!"

"You're right. I couldn't." The Master admitted. "A stroke of genius that I never would have expected from you. But what you didn't realize is that it could take you to 'now' in an alternate universe. This universe or that one, it doesn't matter. As long as I arrived at the place and time that the Tardis was locked on. So I traveled there and brought you… shall we say… a gift?" The Master snapped his fingers and the doors to the room instantly opened. Two of the Master's guards came into the room, dragging a young, blonde human girl in between them.

Only two people in the room recognized her, two men who cared desperately for her in their own ways. Jack Harkness was very fond of her, and she probably would be a good contender for his affections if it weren't for the Doctor. He knew that she'd understand… the Doctor was a hard man to compete with in terms of romantic affection.

But the Doctor felt his hearts clench. He had longed to see her again, the woman that he loved more than anything. But he'd rather see her in her parallel universe, safe, than here in the Master's clutches. A single word escaped his lips, her name. "Rose…"


	2. Sweet Lover

**LES: This chapter is rather shorter than I usually write. But, what you guys don't know is that this story is all ready written. So you won't have to wait long for updates.**

**Chapter II: Sweet Lover**

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><p>Rose looked up when she heard her name called, and she froze. "Doctor?" She gasped, and then was roughly pushed towards the Master by her guards.<p>

The Doctor instantly growled. "Don't touch her! Don't you dare…"

"Oh, I intend to do far more than that." The Master said coldly. "However, I do have some amount of affection for you, for old time's sake, mad though it may be. Not to mention that we are the last two Time Lords to have stood on Gallifrey. So…" He let go of Rose. "Go to him."

Rose didn't waste a second. She barely spared the Master a glance before she ran across the room towards the Doctor. Once she got there, she pulled him into an embrace, which he returned fiercely. "Doctor? I don't understand. What's going on? Who's he?" She glanced back at the Master.

"Rose…" The Doctor whispered, holding her closer to himself. "I'm sorry, but I have to introduce you to the worst of the Time Lord race… the Master."

"Oh, come on, that's a bit harsh!" The Master said. "The other Time Lords were about as interesting as fungus. Dead boring, we both used to say. Wouldn't lift a finger unless it was their own arses on the line. I'm worse than that?"

"Undeniably." The Doctor said.

"Now is that any way to treat the one who has reunited you with your lover, old friend?" The Master asked.

"Lover?" The Doctor said in surprise. "How do you know…?"

"That you two, to use the quaint human word, fucked?" The Master asked. "You've been separated from the Time Lords for too long, Doctor. Even a child could see the bond that has been formed between the two of you. As soon as I regained my Time Lord body, I knew. The bond was all over you… stale but there. That was all I needed to track down the girl in any universe."

"But that's impossible…" The Doctor said.

"You like to use that word, 'impossible'." The Master mused. "But the years of my life have taught me that nothing is impossible."

"But it _is_ impossible!" The Doctor insisted, holding Rose closer to himself. "Only two Gallifreyan life forms could bond."

"Is that a fact?" The Master asked.

"It is."

"Maybe it's time for me to teach the Doctor something." The Master said, moving closer to the two. "Or, better yet… teach me some of your medical knowledge, Doctor. How does a first regeneration Time Lord differ from a second regeneration Time Lord?"

"They…" The Doctor began. "They are able to age… but much slower than a human. They have a higher body temperature due to the overabundance of life energy. They only have one heart. The second heart grows during the first regeneration."

"Yes. Now, what did our professors teach us would happen if we absorbed the Time Vortex within our bodies?" The Master asked.

"That we'd become Gods… vengeful Gods. But it doesn't work like that." The Doctor said. "I only contained the Time Vortex within my body for a short time and it still caused me to regenerate."

"So you failed to contain all that power. The girl in your arms held the power for much longer than you did and suffered no ill effects. Point one… only a Time Lord could bare that sort of power for even a short while. Point two… if you don't mind answering, Bad Wolf Rose, what did it feel like when you fucked your Time Lord?"

Rose gaped at him, but the Doctor didn't allow himself to be too shocked. "_That_," he said, "is none of your business."

"Earth-shattering, am I right? Probably the best you've ever had, am I right?" The Master asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jack asked from across the room. "I mean… not that I've ever thought…"

"Please. I can smell your pheromones from over here." The Master rolled his eyes. "Humans. Willing to fuck anything with a pulse. Of course, they rarely want what is good for them. You, Doctor, are so naive when it comes to inter-species relationships. I'd bet hard money that, before Rose, you had never touched anyone besides your wife on Gallifrey. Me, on the other hand, have not been nearly so stand-off-ish with my companions. Ah! Speak of the devil!" The door opened and a young woman was escorted into the room. "You haven't met my human wife, have you? She's a sweet, lovely thing. Not very talkative, though."

Rose stared in horror at the young woman. She had the looks of a woman who was once very beautiful, but now didn't give a care what she looked like. Her face was pale, her hair unbrushed, and her eyes completely vacant. There was something _wrong_ about her.

"She's lost her mind." The Doctor said simply.

"Unfortunate side-effect, that." The Master said, shaking his head with pretend pity. "You see, humans can't handle being in a physical relationship with a Time Lord. It's too much for their minds to take. Exposure to the essence of time, which fills a Time Lord's very being, wipes their minds clean. But, little Rosie, as we can clearly see, has retained her mental capacities. She is clearly _more_ than human." He glanced briefly at his wife. "Get her out of here." He ordered briefly, orders which were obeyed instantly. "And the final proof!" Without another word, he pulled out an ordinary gun and shot Rose in the chest.


	3. Regeneration and Non Regeneration

**Chapter III: Regeneration and Non-Regeneration**

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><p>All at once, the observation room became both dead silent and filled with noise, depending on your point of view.<p>

For most of the people in the room, it was the latter that they experienced. The sharp report of the gunshot, Rose's cry of pain as the deadly projectile found its mark, buried fatally in her chest. Captain Jack gasped, tugging futilely against his captors. "Rose!" Martha gave a small scream of shock and horror. She may not have been very fond of Rose because of the Doctor's lingering feelings for her, but that didn't mean that she wanted Rose to be hurt. It went against everything that she'd ever believed, that deepest part of her soul that knew that she wanted to be a doctor. But, most heart-rending of all was the Doctor's cry of despair as Rose fell against him.

For the Doctor, alone, noise and anything besides Rose ceased to exist. For the first time in his very long life, he had completely cut himself off from the universe. He could no longer see the timelines of possibility. What use was the possible future if the woman he loved was dead? The Master might as well shoot him too. He'd welcome it. In fact, for the first time ever, he knew that he could not regenerate. He must not. Life was nothing without Rose.

"Rose? Oh, Rassilon…" The Doctor gasped, cradling her to his chest as he eased them both to the ground. He pressed his hand to her chest, intent on stopping the bleeding because he could do nothing else. His chosen name mocked him. Some Doctor he was! He was useless without the Tardis' Medical Bay. There was no other way to save Rose. Without it, she was dying. "Oh, Rose…"

"Doctor?" Rose gasped, gazing up at him with surprisingly calm eyes. It took him off guard, and his wide tearful eyes met hers. She reached up a quivering hand and gently stroked his cheek. "I'm glad…" She whispered. "I've got to see you again."

"Rose, please…" The Doctor begged. "Please, stay with me…"

"I love you…" She finished the pronouncement of love with a short word in the Doctor's native Gallifreyan language. It was one of the only words that she had learned, and by far the most important. Only the watching Master understood its significance besides the Doctor himself. Rose had called him by his name, his true name. Well, it was actually a much-shortened form of his true name. If she had tried to say his full true name, it would have taken her at least two minutes to say it. She didn't have that much time. He had taught it to her the night they first made love, a gift to his new (in Gallifreyan terms) wife.

"Rose Marion Tyler…" The Doctor whispered. He told her that he loved her in Gallifreyan, another phrase that she would understand. And then he leaned down and kissed her for everything that he was worth, pouring out his hearts and soul into the contact.

Rose responded to his kiss as long as she could, but then slowly stopped, falling away from him as her last breath escaped her lips. The Doctor cried out in pain again, crushing her limp body against his chest.

"Can you answer a question for me, because I'm curious, Doctor?" The Master said, taking a step closer. "Are you angry enough to kill?"

The Doctor glared at the Master. His eyes were beyond 'The Oncoming Storm'. The Storm had arrived, and it was directing its full fury at the Master. "Why did you do that to Rose? What had she ever done to you?" He finished with cursing the Master in Gallifreyan.

"Calm down." The Master said, holding up his hands in a placating manner. "You really should have named yourself The Actor. So much needless melodrama."

"Needless?" The Doctor echoed. "You've murdered the woman I love and you call my grief needless?"

"Finally, we are getting somewhere." The Master sighed, and then glanced at his watch. "Oh, friendly word of advice. It's going to happen soon, so I'd suggest standing back, unless you want to get thrown into a wall."

"What are you…?" The Doctor's words were cut off when he became distracted by the woman in his arms. To any except the two Time Lords, nothing seemed to have changed about her, but the Doctor and the Master could see quite clearly that something was different.

Every form of life in all creation was surrounded by and connected to personal and universal timelines. It was by viewing these timelines that a Time Lord could view the past and see all possible futures, both individually and for the entire universe. When the average person died, all of their personal timelines disintegrated and faded from the universal timeline. For an immortal being like Jack, his personal timelines acted like a rubber band or bungee cord. He would fall into the realm of death briefly, and then be snapped back to life seconds to days later, depending on the amount of trauma that he had suffered in death. The higher the trauma, the longer it took for him to come back.

But Time Lords were different from every other being in the universe in that when their timeline reached its end, their personal timelines went through a complete reshuffling, which resulted in a new body, slightly different personality, and a new prime timeline of possibility.

The Doctor and the Master watched, the former with some amazement, when Rose's timelines did not fade, but started to reorganize themselves in a manner similar to a Time Lord's timeline reshuffle.

"But that's…" The Doctor began.

"Impossible?" The Master finished. "Don't you know by now that the universe loves to prove you wrong?"

Before either could speak another word, a bright orange energy erupted from Rose's body. To the humans, it seemed that she had exploded. But the watching Time Lords knew regeneration when they saw one, having gone through the process numerous times themselves. The burst of energy almost did send the Doctor flying into a wall. It was only his iron grip on Rose that kept him anchored as her body changed, completely at random because she was unconscious when it happened.

When the glow faded, the Doctor stared in shock at the woman in his arms. He remembered how disturbed Rose (and many of his other companions) had been upon his regeneration. It had taken all of them much convincing that he was still the same Doctor no matter what he looked like. The Doctor was not in the least disturbed by the different-looking woman in his arms. Very shocked, but not disturbed. She looked only slightly older than before, in her late twenties now. Her hair had turned brunette and her skin was slightly less pink and slightly browner. All-and-all, she looked like a brunette, slightly older Rose with a tan. No telling what color her eyes were because she was still unconscious.

The Doctor, heedless of the stares that he was receiving from the rest of the room, pressed his hand first to Rose's forehead. As a human, her body temperature was much higher than his, a difference that was easily noticeable to the touch. When he touched her now, he could not feel the slightest difference in their body temperatures. He doubted that there was a degree of difference. From there, he pressed his hand against her right breast. In any other situation, he would have gladly admitted to being a pervert, but the touch had nothing to do with sex in this instance. Instead, he was feeling for a heartbeat on the right side of her chest. Human hearts were located to the left of their chests. The presence of a heart on the right side of her body would be the ultimate proof. Sure enough, he felt the beat of her heart under his fingers, slightly faster than normal, but that could just be a post-regenerative side-effect.

He could tell that she was overflowing with Time Vortex energy, a Time Lord's essence, but that did not worry him, even though it seemed to be in elevated levels.

"What did he do to her?" Jack demanded. "What did you do with her, Master?"

"That was just a typical Time Lord regeneration." The Master said. "Your Doctor's dear Rose has not been fully human for a while now. All she needed was a single death to unleash her true potential. And just look at that potential! I've never seen a young Time Lady with such vast reserves of Time Vortex energy! She most certainly is the young woman who took the Time Vortex within herself and changed herself into a young Time Lady."

The Doctor ignored the Master as Rose began to wake up. Her eyes met his, green eyes. She stared at him silently for a moment. "Well…" She whispered. "This isn't quite what I had in mind, but Heaven's looking pretty good so far."

"You're not dead, Rose. Lie still; I still don't know what sort of side-effects you could have." The Doctor said.

"Doctor?" Rose whispered, reaching up and grabbing something just by his chest. The Doctor gasped as she touched one of his personal timelines. That proved that she could see timelines all ready, which meant that she could see his past and his possible futures which, even now, were rearranging themselves to include her for much longer than anticipated. "Why is your life so short?" She asked.

The Doctor stared at her. Every Time Lord could sense about how long their lives would be depending on the number of regenerations they had left. Rose could sense instinctively that she had eleven regenerations left, and she could see that the Doctor only had three left. In that way, she did see his life as much shorter than hers now. "Don't worry about it now, Rose." The Doctor assured her.

But Rose, apparently, was not reassured. She leaned up and pulled the Doctor into a kiss. The Doctor gasped. It reminded him of his very first kiss with her, when he was in his ninth body, when he'd kissed her as Bad Wolf. It had been a kiss of sheer power, kissing a goddess to take that power within himself. Last time, he had been siphoning the power from her to store in his body. This time, the power invaded his body and soul under her direction.

The energy of the Time Vortex converged on his chest, his hearts, and he cried out against her mouth as his hearts skipped a few beats and he came close to regenerating. He would have been terrified if it were anyone but Rose. It reminded him of the time when he had been forcefully regenerated by the Time Lords in punishment for his crimes. But his hearts started up again without him regenerating. He broke the kiss and dropped his head against Rose's shoulder.

Something was different, and he didn't know what until he examined his personal timeline. Then he gasped in shock. Before the kiss, he'd had three regenerations left. But Rose had given him the ultimate gift that a Time Lord could receive: extra regenerations. Usually, they were given one at a time as rewards. He had never received that gift before. But Rose gave him much more than a thirteenth regeneration. She had given him eight more regenerations, matching her number of regenerations remaining: eleven. He'd live through a total of twenty regenerations before the universe was finished with him.

"Rose… Rose… thank you." The Doctor whispered to her, kissing her again.

The Master whistled. "Wow. How many regenerations did she just give you? Eight? She must've had some of the power of the Time Vortex left in her. Too bad that gift she just gave you has turned her back into a normal Time Lady rather than a Time Goddess. She must love you if she exchanged ultimate power for your life."

The Doctor pulled Rose closer to his chest. "All right, Master, you've proved your point. Rose is a Time Lady now. Let her go. She's just regenerated, and she's weak. It's me that you want, anyway."

"So arrogant." The Master said. "The universe revolves around the Doctor, doesn't it?" He snapped his fingers and a bunch of guards took the weakened Rose captive, dragging her kicking and screaming away from as he struggled against some more guards to stop them. "Do you not understand? She is the only Time Lady in existence! She could be the mother of the new race of Time Lords, and whoever fathers those children with her will become like Rassilon himself: a god among Time Lords! Why would I let you have that honor when the new Time Lords can be created in my own image?"

The Doctor leapt up, only just barely being restrained by the Master's guards. Even then, they had trouble stopping the Doctor. He was much stronger than his slight form would suggest. "Don't you dare touch her!" The Doctor yelled. "She's bonded to me! Even you wouldn't…!"

"Times change." The Master said with a shrug. "In normal circumstances, I'd never take your sloppy seconds. But if it can make me the God of all Time Lords, I'd fuck anything, including your bonded mate."

"Don't worry. I have special plans for all of you. You'll all have as much fun as Rose. Well… perhaps not _as much_ fun…" The Master glanced at Captain Jack. "Let's see… how should I try to kill you first?" He paused thoughtfully. "Have you ever been cooked before?" Jack didn't reply. "Chain him up in the engine room. A few hours in there will turn any human into barbeque. Tasty." With that, they dragged Jack off. "And, as for you, Doctor, I can't have you breaking out and trying to stop me. Do you remember Professor Lazarus and his aging machine? Behold the portable version!" He pulled out a small object that looked very much like a sonic screwdriver, but much more sinister. The Doctor didn't flinch. There was no way the Master could re-write his biology unless he had his biological code. "Oh, if only I had the Doctor's biological code… Oh, wait! I do!" He revealed that he had in his possession the Doctor's severed hand that Jack had carried with him in a jar in his quest to track down the Doctor. It had been on the Tardis when the Master had stolen it, and the months that he'd been in this time would have given him more than enough time to get the Doctor's biological code from it. "All I have to do is suspend your ability to regenerate and age you, oh… let's say a hundred years…" He pointed the device at the Doctor and turned it on.

The Doctor screamed in pain as the device began to age him rapidly. It had been centuries since he'd experienced aging, and this process was so quick and disturbing to his time sense that he literally could not fight back. Once it had occurred to him to fight back, it was too late. He was in a body that was physically one hundred and thirty years old, meaning that he literally could not do anything.

He fell to the ground, hardly able to support himself when the Master switched off the device. "Maybe if your precious Rose could see you now, old man, she wouldn't feel so bad about having the attentions of a young bloke like me." The Master said, while the Doctor could do nothing but glare at him.

"Doctor!" Martha screamed, running over quickly due to her lax guard.

The Master laughed as she kneeled down next to the Doctor. He did not notice the Doctor whispering in her ear. "Or perhaps your other companion doesn't mind old men?" His laughter stopped as she stood and faced him, a fearless look on her face. "Oh, please, don't tell me you are going to try some useless heroics?"

"There's never anything useless about fighting against people like you." Martha said coldly. "Beware, Master. The next time we meet, it will be your last." She pulled Jack's teleporter out of her pocket.

The Master's eyes widened. "Stop her!"

But it was too late, Martha pressed a button and she was gone. Even the Master had no way of finding where she had gone. He growled in rage. "It doesn't matter… she's somewhere on this planet. I'll hunt her down and kill her. Besides, what can a single human woman do?"

"You'd be shocked, Master." The Doctor said from his place on the ground. "If there is one thing that humans are good at, it's surviving."

"Not for much longer." The Master said. "The Toclafane will see that. In the meantime, I think I'll entertain myself with your dear bonded mate, Rose." The Master leered at the Doctor and stepped out of the room.

The Doctor closed his eyes. _Rose._ He called across their telepathic connection.

_Doctor? Is that you?_

_It is me, Rose. I have to tell you this right now. You can't let the Master lay with you. With our bond, it would be disturbing enough to both of us to drive us insane._

_But how? How can I stop him? It's not like I have many options to fight back? I wouldn't put it past him to have someone hold me down while he…_

_You can fight back. Rape is something that is none-existent among telepaths. He's counting on you being unaware of how to stop him with your mind._

_But I've never done anything like that before._

_When the body starts to become aroused, the brain starts to produce hormones to provoke a sexual response within the body. Block the release of the chemical with your mind and he will be unable to copulate with you._

_What if I can't?_

_Do not fear, my love. I shall be in your mind, guiding your thoughts to help you this time. I promised that I wouldn't let anyone hurt you, and I intend to keep that promise._

_I trust you, my Doctor._

_I know._

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><p><strong>Human barbeque: In the classic Doctor Who, there is a brief scene that suggests that the Master eats human flesh.<strong>


	4. One Year

**Chapter IV: One Year**

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><p>The following year passed slowly, which was torture enough. Though, thankfully, everyone was still alive and very little the worse for wear.<p>

By following the Doctor's instructions, Rose had managed to make the Master and his guards pretty much incapable of raping her. The Doctor had been punished for teaching Rose that small bit of defiance. He was now made to live in a small tent in the command room like a dog, complete with straw bed, and a food and water bowl. But the Doctor did not care. He would suffer any humiliation if it kept Rose safe.

Despite the Master's numerous attempts he'd yet to find a way to put Jack Harkness down for the count permanently. He'd gotten close once. Cutting out his heart had put him down for more than a week. But just as the Master thought he'd finished him off for good, his heart had grown back and he awakened.

The Master kept a wary eye out for Martha Jones, but thus far had been unable to locate her. The trouble was that she never stayed in any one place for long. And if all the stories of her sightings were true, she must've walked the entire world by now. Whatever she was doing, the Master did not have a great amount of fear for her. He held her family hostage, using them as servants. If there was one thing he knew about humans, it was that they'd do anything to keep their families safe, futile though it may ultimately be.

The Master sat on his throne, the Lord of the World, with the last Time Lady, Rose, at his side. Of course, she was not there willingly. The chain and collar around her neck was more than enough proof of that. Most days, she was mostly content to sit and ignore the man beside her, in favor of watching her bond-mate.

She could not see his age, the Master knew. That was how Gallifreyan bonds worked. They did not work on physical appearance at all. No matter what the Doctor or she looked like, they would always recognize each other.

The Master clenched his fist as he watched them. It had been so long since he'd had something like that himself. Neither his wife nor the Doctor's first wife had lived to see the Time War, both dead before their times. Of course, the Doctor had enough time with his first wife for children and grandchildren. That was something the Master had never known. He envied the Doctor for it.

Finally, he growled in annoyance. He stood up, turned to face Rose, and back-handed her violently across the face, knocking her to the ground.

If Rose was at all surprised by his sudden violence, she didn't show it. She glared at him as always, holding her hand to the red mark on her face. It was not the first time she'd taken the blunt of the Master's aggression.

He reached out and dragged her to her feet. "I'll give you one last chance to see sense." He growled at her. "I'm tired of playing these games with you. I may not be able to force myself on you, but if you are at all smart, you will lay with me willingly. I'll give you two different choices. The first one is that you willingly bare my children. I'll let you see your children and the Doctor as often as you want, supervised of course. I'll even revert him back to his normal age, as a gift to you. The second choice is that you will bear the Doctor's children."

"I'll choose that option. Every time." Rose said firmly.

"But you haven't let me finish." The Master said. "Sure, the children will be biologically yours and the Doctor's, but they will be fostered by me. You'll never see them or have any contact with them, and you'll only get one hour a year to see your Doctor, just to take care of business. Those are your two choices. Now make the intelligent choice. You're a Time Lady now; the smart choice is the easy one."

Rose glared at him, a year's worth of hatred in her eyes. This pleased the Master greatly. Women were always more lively in bed when they were angry.

However, before Rose could answer, one of the Master's lapdogs ran into the room. "Lord Master!" He called, and then slid to a halt when he saw there was a confrontation going on between the two aliens.

The Master sighed. "We'll speak of this later. By then, you'd better have made the right choice. If you haven't made a choice by the next time we speak, I turn my affections on your friend, the Captain. I'll fuck him like he's never been fucked before… show him the whole universe… before it wipes his mind clean, that is." He smiled at her, content that she had no way out, before he turned his attention to the guard. "What is it?"

"You wanted information on the whereabouts of Martha Jones?" The guard asked rhetorically. "We've located her. She's back in Great Britain. But there's more. Our informant has told us that she's been traveling the world to build a weapon of some type."

The Master scoffed. "What fear have I for human technology? There is nothing to be found on this sad planet that can do more than just make me regenerate."

"That's just the thing, sir." The guard said. "According to our sources, several of the human institutes that monitor alien activity, like U.N.I.T and Torchwood apparently has knowledge of Time Lords, probably from the meddling Doctor. The story is that they invented a weapon that can utterly destroy a Time Lord with no chance of regeneration. They split the weapon into four parts and hid them across the world. That may be why Martha Jones has been seen all over the world. She could be assembling this weapon to kill you."

The Master gazed thoughtfully at the Doctor down below him. "Is that what you whispered to your little human pet before she took off? Telling her about this weapon, to find it and kill me? Well, I'm sorry to say, Doctor, that your plan has failed!" He attached the end of Rose's chain to his throne, to insure that she did not run or have any physical contact with the Doctor. He could not stop their telepathic communication, but it wasn't like they could conceive a child that way. "Well, I'm off to pick up and execute your little human pet, Doctor." He joined the guard as they walked out of the room.

Once the Doctor and Rose were left alone, Rose edged closer to him, as close as her chain would allow. She could feel his mind brushing hers like a lover's caress and she returned the gesture.

_What should I do?_ She asked.

The Doctor met her eyes. _I'll leave it up to you, my love. Only you can say how strong you are._

An unnatural silence fell between them.


	5. You Know What Happens Now

**LES: I decided to get rid of the 900-year old Doctor. Sorry, he just creeps me right the *censored* out. Also, sorry in advance for any mistakes or typos. I completely blame Paranormal Activity 3 for giving me a sleepless night and making me too dead tired to proofread properly.  
><strong>

**Chapter V: You Know What Happens Now**

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><p>It seemed that the Master wanted to make a spectacle of executing Martha Jones because all of the Master's prisoners had been brought up to the command room to witness the Master's great victory. Even Jack Harkness had been brought up, bound in chains, and still perfect-looking as if he hadn't been tortured for a year.<p>

The Doctor knew the truth, though. He could see the scars in Jack's mind. Pain affected him even if death would not touch him for long.

Normally, the Doctor would not be able to have a telepathic communication with a human, but since Jack was a former Time Agent and, therefore, had psychic training. As long as the Doctor initiated the conversation, Jack could respond mentally.

_I'm sorry for what you've gone through._ The Doctor told him mentally.

Jack met his eyes and replied. _I still wish I hadn't met you. But it is worth it._

The Doctor was reminded of words that Madame de Pompadour had spoken to Rose, words that he'd seen through their telepathic connection. _The Doctor is worth the monsters._ It seemed there was another following to this line of reasoning.

Apparently, the Doctor didn't shield that particular thought well enough because he heard Jack's laughter in his mind. _Don't worry about it, Doctor. I may love you, but I'm smart enough to know a lost cause. I want to keep my mind just as it is, thank you very much. Besides, I'm not what you'd call 'inclusive'. There's enough Jack to go around, after all._

The Doctor laughed mentally. _There is at that, my friend._

Martha's family was standing, guarded heavily, at the edge of the room. But they were not nearly as well guarded as Rose. She was currently the most powerful creature in the room. But, having no idea how to use the powers of a Time Lady, there was little she could do. Even if the Doctor mentally whispered instructions to her, it took real training to master Time. They didn't want Rose creating another paradox on top of the broken-to-pieces Grandfather paradox that was happening on Earth at that very moment and sustained by the Tardis-turned-Paradox-machine. Too many paradoxes could destroy all of Time and Space.

_Just wait._ The Doctor whispered to Rose. _It will all come together soon._

She met his eyes and nodded. Even now, she trusted him explicably.

They did not have to wait long for the Master to make his grand entrance, walking at the front of a bunch of guards who held Martha Jones captive. In his hands, he carried a destroyed case, which carried to ruined remnants of the anti-Time Lord weapon. He tossed it on the ground in front of the Doctor, spilling various burnt up chemicals all over the floor.

"Behold your great hope." The Master said. "This weapon won't be killing any Time Lords today. Though if you continue to defy me, I shall have it rebuilt and used on you. Imagine dying like the rest of our race, Doctor. Burning, using up one regeneration after another in a futile attempt to stay alive. Ripping all eleven regenerations out of your body in an instant… that's just what you'd deserve."

The Doctor was barely listening to the Master. Martha's eyes sought him out. He didn't dare try to access her mind, because then the Master would try the same. Instead, she gave only a slight nod before turning her attention back on the Master, who mounted the stairs to his throne.

"Martha Jones." The Master said, turning to face her and sitting down. The guards forced her forward and forced her to kneel at the foot of the stairs. "I'm going to execute you now, in front of the entire world for the attempted assassination of your Lord and Master. You are sentenced to…"

But the Master trailed off as the most surprising sound escaped Martha's lips, one that he'd never heard before from his hundreds of victims. Martha Jones was actually laughing in the face of her death! And not just small chuckles, but actual full-bodied laughter. The Master stared at her, utterly confused. "What are you doing? Why are you laughing?" He asked, very much wrong-footed by Martha's reaction to her upcoming death.

Finally, Martha was able to calm down enough to speak to the Master, though she continued to chuckle. "How big of an idiot are you?" She asked rhetorically. "I mean, _really_? A super-secret weapon designed to kill Time Lords, separated into four parts and hidden all over the world? You actually fell for that?"

"But… the weapon… it's right there…" The Master gestured to the destroyed case, leaking chemical fluids on the ground in front of the Doctor. "I destroyed it!"

At the Master's words, the Doctor dipped his finger into the supposedly super-toxic poisons that were meant to kill a Time Lord instantly and popped the finger in his mouth. "As I thought. Water and food coloring… with a few harmless chemicals added in for smell. Tastes disgusting, but completely harmless." He met the Master's confused eyes. "Did you really believe that I would order her to kill you?"

"I…" The Master began, his words failing him. For perhaps the first time since he had captured the Doctor, he seemed a little short on words.

The Doctor stood up. "You believed I would, because that's what you would have done in the same situation. That's why you and I are fundamentally different. We used to be friends, you and I, but those days are long since gone. Now you will see the Doctor's way."

"Do you want to know why I really traveled the world, Master?" Martha asked, stepping forward. "It wasn't to assemble some super-weapon. I did exactly what the Doctor asked me to do. Everywhere I traveled I met people surviving in terror of you, and I told them a story. I told them my story, about my time with the Doctor. I told the people about him, how he saved the universe over and over without ever asking for thanks or a reward. The story of the Doctor has now spread over the entire world."

"Words." The Master said. "Just words! You can't harm me with words! What was that Earth saying? 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.'"

"Yes, words. That's all." Martha said. "Except you proved yourself that there is power in words. You used the power of your words to take over the human race one year ago, through your Archangel satellite network."

"Only because the Archangel network created a telepathic field over the whole planet." The Master said dismissively. "You would need to input your story directly into the system as I did for them to have any effect."

"Very true." The Doctor spoke up. "But if, let's say hypothetically, you've been holding a Time Lord with telepathic powers captive for a year. Let's also say that this Time Lord has spent that year integrating himself psychically into the system, enough to change the way the system operates. It would be incredibly simple to turn the whole process in reverse. Instead of the power of words feeding into the people, the power of the people's words are feeding into the system. Of course, they wouldn't need a lot of words to make an effect. Just one will do."

"What word? What word?" The Master demanded.

On a cue that was set up one year ago by the Doctor, to coincide with the Master's attack on the rest of the universe, every surviving human on the face of the planet and all of the people on the Doctor's side in the command room (and many who actually on the Master's side but sick of him) said a single word out loud. "Doctor."

The effect was instantaneous. The psychic energy of every person on the planet was a potent thing, and it was being channeled into the being that those people directed it to: into the Doctor.

Filled with the limitless psychic energy, the Doctor was able to shed away his false physical years until he had returned to his normal apparent age. He was glowing, radiating with all the power of mankind, a combined force that no single Time Lord could hope to match.

The Master cowered, backing into the wall away from the Doctor.

The Doctor stared at him, his eyes cold and emotionally devoid. "You know what happens now." He said simply, moving closer to the Master. As he moved, the psychic energy carried forth his will, freeing all of his captive friends. Horrified by his display of power, the Master's guards turned tail and ran.

The overall effect of the Doctor's power and his words had a remarkable effect on the Master. He curled into a fetal position on the floor, hiding his face from the Doctor in childish hysterics. He moaned and begged to stop whatever the Doctor was planning to do to him. "No! Please, no! Don't!"

"You've left me no other choice." The Doctor said, now standing before the Master. Slowly, he stopped glowing as the psychic energy faded, leaving just a normal Time Lord behind. The Doctor knelt down and pulled the Master into his arms, embracing his old friend. "I forgive you." The Doctor whispered to him.

The Master cried harder upon hearing the Doctor's message, though if the tears were from horror or relief, none could say.


	6. The Death of a Time Lord

**LES: I'm adding this chapter now, early, because I don't know if I'll be able to update tomorrow. I'm going to be helping my sister move in the morning, and I work in the afternoon, so chances of updating are spotty at best. Hopefully, this will tide you guys over till I can update again.  
><strong>

**Chapter VI: The Death of a Time Lord**

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><p>Before long, the Master was chained up, completely at the Doctor's mercy. Together, the Doctor and Jack had destroyed the parts that the Master had added to the Tardis to make a Paradox machine, transforming her back into the Doctor's beloved ship once more. The paradox came crashing down around them, effectively erasing a whole year from the history of the world. No one else would ever know what had happened, except for those who stood in the center, in the command room.<p>

And the Doctor and Rose were reunited. As soon as the Master was secured, the Doctor turned to face his love. "Rose." He called.

She smiled that brilliant smile that hadn't changed a bit with her regeneration and ran to meet the Doctor. Heedless of the stares of everyone in the room, she leapt into his arms and kissed him for all that she was worth. When they pulled apart, they shared a Gallifreyan kiss: resting their foreheads together and allowing their minds to brush against each other. "Doctor… I'm so glad you're all right." She whispered, kissing him in the human way again. She may be a Time Lady now, but that didn't mean that she had to let go of all her human habits.

"Oh, Rose… finally, after all this time, we are together once again."

"Nothing's going to tear us apart again." Rose promised. "Not even death."

"Nothing could be more perfect." The Doctor said.

Rose pulled out of the Doctor's arms, and turned to face Jack. "Jack… I…" She paused. She had seen what she had done to him in the Doctor's mind, and felt horrible about it. Even with her new, highly increased lifespan, she would meet her end eventually. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to never die. "I'm sorry for what I did to you."

Jack pulled her into a hug. "I forgive you, Rose. I know that you didn't mean to make me immortal, and there are low points to it. But it doesn't entirely suck. It has come in useful a few times. Because of it, I was able to defeat Abaddon, the Son of the Beast and the Bringer of Death a year ago… well… a few days ago, actually."

"Really?" The Doctor asked.

"Really!" Jack said. "He could steal the lives of everyone who fell in his shadow. There was so much life in me that he got a stomach ache and died."

"A stomach ache?" Rose asked disbelievingly.

"He ate too much and ceased to exist. How else would you explain it?" Jack asked.

Suddenly, Rose felt a very fine disturbance in time. Over the last Year-That-Never-Was, she had learned to tell when someone was in danger of dying just from studying their timelines. Right now, all of her senses were telling her that someone in the room was about to die. She glanced around, and gasped when she saw Martha's mother leveling a gun at the Master's face. The look in her eyes told Rose that the woman was fully intending to pull the trigger and kill the Master. "Doctor!" Rose gasped, directing his attention to Martha's mother.

The Doctor saw what was going on. He moved slowly over to her, as if a sudden movement would make her fire. "Mrs. Jones. Don't. You don't want to do that." He said calmly.

Martha's mother stared at the Doctor in shock, but her look was nothing compared to the Master. He stared at the Doctor with a mixture of confusion and horror.

"How can you say that I don't want this?" Mrs. Jones demanded, turned back to the Master and aiming the gun at his forehead. "I've dreamed of this for a year. I _swore_ that if I ever got the chance, I would kill him for everything he's done!"

"He hasn't done anything." The Doctor said. "All the people that were killed have been brought back. It's like the last year never happened."

"I remember it, Doctor! So don't you try to pull that 'Time is confusing' crap on me!" Mrs. Jones yelled.

"Time is confusing." The Doctor insisted. "But I've got a better reason for you to not pull that trigger. Deep down inside, you know that you can't."

"I can!" Mrs. Jones insisted. "I can and I will!"

"Pull the trigger then. It's the easiest thing in the world, isn't it? A slight tension on the tendon in your index finger, and you'll take one of his regenerations away. And then you shoot him again and again until he stops coming back." He paused while the gun shook in her hand, tears filling in her eyes. "Everyone thinks that killing is easy until they are the one holding the gun to someone else's head. That little movement? It's the hardest thing in the universe."

Mrs. Jones let out a wail of despair as the gun fell from her hands. She almost fell to her knees, but the Doctor leapt forward and caught her before she could fall. He pulled the woman to his chest, embracing her. "Killing is not the answer… it is never the answer. I know how you feel. After my home planet burned, and knowing that I was responsible, I wanted nothing more than to set fire to the universe and watch it burn out of pure spite. But that wouldn't bring my people back, and it would not have made me feel better. Everything is fine now. The paradox is closed and everyone has been brought back. There will be no more deaths today."

Martha moved forward and took her mother from the Doctor. His eyes met Rose and a quiet understanding passed between them. Rose moved over to him and pulled him into an embrace.

"What of me, then?" The Master asked. "With Gallifrey gone, there is no prison in the whole of Time and Space that can hold me for long."

"The Tardis is more than capable of fashioning a cell for you." The Doctor said. "I'll keep an eye on you until the end of Time."

"You're gonna force me onto the Tardis as your little pet?" The Master asked. "Are you really so starved of a Time Lord telepathic link that you'd need both me and your little Rosie there?"

"You haven't felt the centuries of silence like I have." The Doctor said.

"You're right." The Master said with a shrug. "Not much room for other things in this head with the sound of the drums."

"You are coming with me on the Tardis." The Doctor said with a tone of finality.

The Master laughed cruelly. "Do you see yourself as benevolent, Lord of Time? Do you imagine that I will thank you for this? Well, you're wrong, Doctor! I will never thank you for this!" The Master then said a long Gallifreyan curse which basically amounted to wishing a bad fate on everyone he had ever loved, touched, met, will meet, or even knew in passing. "I would rather be dead!"

Before anyone could react, the sharp report of a gunshot caused most of the people in the room to flinch in shock. The Master stared down in shock at his chest, watching in mute fascination as the blood blossomed across his chest. He had been hit in one of his hearts. There was only two ways to save his life. The first was to channel some of his life energy into the wound, but the window for that was small and was all ready passing. The second way was to regenerate. He could feel the regeneration energy of the Time Vortex beginning to stir within him, but he quickly put a stop to it. He was not going to regenerate into a life of hell if he could help it.

Everyone else stared in shock at the doorway, from where the gunshot had originated. Everyone was surprised to see that it was the Master's insane wife, dropping the gun vaguely. "Monster." She whispered. "Monster." And she wondered away as if nothing of importance had happened. An awful testament to the true crime of a mind lost.

The Doctor rushed over to the Master, holding the Time Lord before he fell to the ground. "Regenerate!" The Doctor yelled at him. "I know that you have regenerations left in you, so why aren't you regenerating?"

"I meant it." The Master said. "I'd rather die than give you the slightest amount of comfort since you denied me."

"Denied you? When did I…?"

"You forgave me, Doctor." The Master hissed. "Did you really think I wanted your forgiveness? I wanted you to hate me. Only your anger could have given me peace. Even now, you won't hate me. So I'll give you this last insult before I go. You denied me what I most wanted, so I'll deny you the same thing."

"REGENERATE!" The Doctor ordered.

"You can't force me." The Master said coldly. "You just sit there and watch the last of your old world die."

Before the Master could say another word, the Doctor met his eyes and locked. They stared at each other for a few moments before the Master spoke again.

"Ah. Trying to steal my knowledge of parallel worlds, are we?" The Master asked. "Take it, if you must. If you destroy the boundaries between the worlds and destroy all of reality, it's of no concern to me."

"I won't. Never. I'm not like you. I know when to stop."

"Do you, Doctor? Do you really?" The Master asked. A few seconds later, the mental transfer seemed to be complete and the Doctor pulled the Master into an embrace, cradling the dying Time Lord against his body.

"The drums…" The Master whispered. "They stop at last." And with that final pronouncement, the Master died.

The Doctor did not cry out as he held his one time friend and mortal enemy against him as he grieved. It was almost like losing the Time Lords again. The Master was a part of his life, a part of his childhood, and one of the only pieces of Gallifrey that he had left, besides the Tardis.

It wasn't until Rose moved over to him and pulled both him and the dead Master into an embrace that he began to feel hope again. The old Time Lords were gone, of the mighty race only he was left. But the Time Lords had a chance to begin anew in him and Rose. It could take generations; millions of years, but the Time Lords could once again be the stewards of the galaxy, as it was meant to be. But better this time. Rassilon had made the old Time Lords better, and he would do the same for the new Time Lords.

The Doctor gently laid the Master down and stood to face the others in the room. "Jack… find any sort of red fabric that you can find and bring it to me."

"Of course. What for?" Jack asked.

"He went insane, but it was not his fault. He used to be my friend and, in memory of the boy I used to play with, I will give him a proper Gallifreyan funeral."

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><p><strong>Jack and Abaddon: From the series finale of Torchwood, Series 1. This episode is shown to have happened right before Jack Harkness meets up with the Tardis again in the third series of Doctor Who.<strong>


	7. Gallifreyan Funeral

**Chapter VII: Gallifreyan Funeral**

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><p>The Tardis was a bit more full than usual, but it also had rarely been so quiet. Rose, Martha, and Jack had decided to go with the Doctor as he gave his last respects to the Master. To be honest, they were not there for the Master, they were there to offer what support they could for the Doctor. All of them avoided looking at the covered body of the dead Time Lord. Instead, they busied themselves with cleaning up the last of the Master's modifications, under the quiet direction of the Doctor as he concentrated on piloting them wherever he was planning on going.<p>

A few seconds, and a slight jolt from the Tardis later, they had landed.

Without a word, the Doctor stalked over to the Tardis door and pushed it open, giving the others a view of the alien landscape beyond. It was a barren and cold world, barely managing to get enough heat to make a human-tolerable temperature from the distant sun.

_No,_ Rose realized, _there's more than one sun. There are two of them._

She followed the Doctor outside. Like him, she was only mildly disturbed by the cold. Jack and Martha followed after them. Jack seemed to be fine, but Martha was bundling herself up.

"Where are we, Doctor?" She asked. "I've never seen a place like this."

"I've never been here." Jack said. "But I think I know where we are."

The Doctor glanced at him. "You are probably right. This is as close to Gallifrey as we can ever get. Same star system, different planet. Do you see that dust cloud in the sky there?" The Doctor pointed to a blurry streak of dust that was illuminated by the far-away suns. "That dust cloud is all that is left of Gallifrey. All Time Lords should have received their last rites on Gallifrey, but we'll just have to make due for the Master's."

Rose moved up to the Doctor's side, staring at the vast dust cloud that was now a part of her. She desperately wished that she could have seen it in its glory days.

_It was beautiful, all right._ The Doctor said in her mind, after reading her thoughts. _But the people were a bit pompous. I never thought I'd miss them so much._

"You have me now, Doctor. I promise. Now and forever." Rose said, kissing him briefly.

"So… Time Lord funeral… what do you need?"

"We need wood." The Doctor said. "Help me build a pyre. Time Lords burn their dead. It's very important."

"Why is it important?" Martha asked.

"Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only change form." The Doctor said.

"That's one of the laws of thermodynamics." Martha pointed out.

"You see, Martha, every Time Lord is born with a vast amount of Time Vortex energy within them. That's what separates Time Lords from human beings. If you could access the energy yourself, you'd become Time Lords… like Rose. Though I wouldn't recommend doing what she did. Highly dangerous. She could have died… it _did_ kill me." The Doctor explained. "Anyway, some of that energy stays with the Time Lord, even after death. Call it a Time Lord's soul, if you will. Burning the body allows the energy of the soul to escape and rejoin the Time Vortex. It's sort of a Time Lord version of heaven."

"So… all the energy that we see in the Time Vortex...?" Jack asked.

"Are Time Lords past." The Doctor finished. "They are there, watching over things. They are the ones who pull the Tardis off course for me to fix things that I haven't noticed. The Master will join them now."

"And you are not worried about the Master causing trouble from the Time Vortex?"

"The collective consciousness of the Time Lords will stop him from causing trouble." The Doctor said. "The Time Lords as I knew them might have been static, but they would not what the universe to suffer." He glanced at his friends. "Help me." And they did.

It took a little longer than they expected to gather enough wood for a fire. In fact, by the end, they were forced to raid some of the Tardis' firewood stock. But the pyre was eventually built and Jack helped the Doctor lay the Master upon it.

The Doctor rearranged the red fabric over the Master's face. To the human's ears, there was nothing around them but silence. But Rose could hear the songs of Gallifreyan mourning inside the Doctor's mind. She did not fully understand Gallifreyan yet, but what she could understand brought tears to her eyes. The song did not just speak of sorrow, but it literally was Sorrow. The words awakened her emotions until there was little else she could do but sob quietly. Jack pulled her into an embrace, confused by her reaction, but willing to offer her comfort all the same.

Finally, the song ended and the Doctor grabbed the last piece of wood, which was alight with fire. He paused before setting the fire to the pyre, but he eventually did so. The wood caught surprisingly quickly, and it only took minutes for both the pyre and the Master to be fully engulfed in flames.

The Doctor stood back; watching with a frown on his face, as the flames quickly consumed his friend. Before their eyes, the golden energy normally used for regeneration rose from the pyre, hovered over the Master, and then disappeared into thin air. The Master's soul had rejoined the Time Vortex.

The Doctor said a Gallifreyan word that Rose took instantly to be the Master's true name. "I hope you find the peace in death that you were denied in life." With that, he turned and started to walk away from the burning pyre.

The others glanced after him and then turned to follow, leaving the lonely pyre of one of the last Time Lords in existence to burn itself out on the dark and lonely world that used to be the sister to Gallifrey.


	8. The End is Only the Beginning

**Chapter IIX: The End is Only the Beginning**

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><p>The Tardis landed on Earth, back in London, which the Doctor found incredibly predictable. One by one, he and his companions, former-companions, and lover filed out onto the street. None of the humans walking down the street nearby stopped to wonder how four adults had managed to fit inside a small blue box. The human mind never ceased to amaze him, even if it was their amazing ability to not see what was right in front of him.<p>

He'd said it before, and he'll probably be saying it over and over until the end of time… He'd never know why he liked those simple-minded humans so much.

He turned to face them. "Thank you." He said sincerely. "I know that you didn't have the same history with the Master that I did and that, to you, he was just an evil creature that needed to be stopped, but…" The Doctor trailed off, apparently unable to finish his sentence.

"Anything for you, Doctor." Rose said with just as much sincerity. "You know that."

A few seconds later, the Doctor recovered himself and looked over at his other two companions. "So… what do you two say? There is more than enough room on the Tardis, and it's been a long time since I've had three such amazing companions. Do you want to come with me?"

Jack and Martha glanced at each other for a second, and then smiled at the Doctor. "Actually, Doctor, as much as I would love to run across the universe with you again, I really should be getting back to my team. They're probably gonna have my head for running out on them like I did…" Jack said. "But I just have one more question before I go… I can't die, but I'm still aging very slowly. So… what happens if I live to be a million years old?"

"I honestly don't know." The Doctor said. "Maybe moisturizer?"

Jack laughed. "You and your wit. I'm going to miss that." He ran his hand along his chin, as if dreading what he was going to look like in a few thousand years. "Its gonna be a shame when this face goes south. You know, this face was quite famous when I was growing up back home on the Silver Devastation. Yep. 'The Face of Boe' is what they used to call me." He smiled at them, oblivious to the looks of shocked amazement on their faces as he turned and began to jog away.

The Doctor, Rose, and Martha stared at each other in shock. "No!" Rose and Martha exclaimed at the same time.

"Well, if you think about it…" The Doctor began, running his hand through his hair. "The Face of Boe always did call me 'old friend' even though we had never met… and he was the one who tipped us off about Yana."

"Oh, wow! This is even cooler than finding out that the royal family could all be werewolves!" Rose laughed.

"Wait…" Martha said, turning to face the other two. "The royal family are what?"

This caused the Doctor and Rose to laugh harder. "A long story involving Queen Victoria and how I was Knighted and banished from the British Empire on the same day." The Doctor said. "Not that banishment has ever kept me away before."

"So that time that you went by Sir Doctor of Tardis…?"

"A real title." The Doctor said. "And Rose became Dame Rose of the Powell Estate."

"So, Martha, do you want to come with us?" Rose asked. "There is room for you on the Tardis."

Martha shook her head. "There's no room for me, and we all know that." She turned to the Doctor. "One of my mates once spent years chasing after a man who was not interested in her. I told her that she had to get on with her life. It's time I followed my own advice, yeah?"

The Doctor stared at her in shock. "You mean… you…?"

"I thought." Martha said. "But you've always been in love with Rose. Besides, I don't really fancy ending up like that wife of the Master's. You're a great man… well, alien… but you aren't quite worth my mind."

"Nothing is worth that." The Doctor said. "You are brilliant. Absolutely brilliant, Dr. Martha Jones."

"High praise, coming from you." Martha said. "And you, Doctor… you've earned that name in my opinion."

"High praise." The Doctor said, smiling.

Martha walked over to Rose and handed her a slip of paper. "Don't worry; no doubt you'll see me again. That's my number. If you ever head my way, give me a call. You're always welcome with me. And, remember, I want to see the children when they come!"

Both Rose and the Doctor blushed heavily as Rose accepted the number from Martha and the group parted ways. But not for the last time. The Doctor stepped into the Tardis, followed closely by Rose. The door shut after them, and Martha watched, a few tears filling her eyes as the Tardis began to make its characteristic whooshing sound as it disappeared from sight.

* * *

><p>Once inside the Time Vortex, the Doctor set the controls to just hover in the vortex with no set destination. Rose walked a few laps around the Tardis console, taking in the sight of her old home. How she had missed the Tardis when she had been trapped in that parallel universe. So, in a way, she did owe the Master one thing. He had brought her back to her Doctor.<p>

The only difference was the music that she could hear around the console. Instead of the song that the Doctor had sang at the funeral, this was a song of happiness and welcome.

"The music…" Rose began.

"It's the Tardis." The Doctor said. "She really missed you while you were gone. Almost as much as I did. Almost, but not quite."

"I'll bet she did." Rose responded, pulling the Doctor into a playful kiss. "So… when are you going to let me into that little plan that you've been hiding in your mind?"

"Ah, that." The Doctor said. "Well, I had hoped to surprise you…" He began to work a few controls on the Tardis. It took a few minutes for him to finish, but then he picked up the Tardis' phone and handed it to Rose. "Go ahead. Call your mum."

Rose stared at the phone in confusion. "But… mum's still in the parallel universe! How can I just call her? Wouldn't you need to burn up another sun?"

"Nope." The Doctor said. "When the Master was dying, I took his knowledge of parallel worlds from his mind. What I said a long time ago is true. True travel between parallel worlds is nearly impossible without the Time Lords to prevent disasters. But that's only if you try to shove something the size of the Tardis through the barriers. With the right settings, we can send a phone message across with minimal damage. Mind you, you won't be able to do it every day. But every once in a while, you can call your mum."

"So… I really can call my mum?"

"Yep." The Doctor said, leaning back against the console. "Just like your super-phone, except it reaches parallel universes."

Rose stepped closer to the controls and hesitantly punched in her mother's number in the parallel universe. The phone rang for a few times before it was picked up. "Tyler residence, Jackie speaking."

"Hello, mum." Rose said.

Jackie's reaction was immediate and loud. She screamed, causing Rose to hold the phone away from her ear, and even the Doctor winced. "Oh, Rose, where are you?" Jackie asked once she'd finished screaming. "When you didn't come home from work, we were so worried! You've been missing for some months now, and you haven't got the Doctor for an excuse this time."

"Actually, that's exactly who I have as an excuse." Rose said. "I made my way back into this universe, with my Doctor. I'm back home again."

"Oh, sweetheart, really?" Jackie asked.

The Doctor moved over to Rose and motioned for the phone. Rose handed it over. "Yes, Jackie. Rose is safe with me now."

"I should have known right away that you were behind this, Doctor. Seems every time you say something's impossible, the universe just goes right ahead and proves you wrong."

"Funny old world, isn't it?" The Doctor replied.

"So, you two are back together now? Are you finally going to admit that you are more than just friends?" Jackie asked.

"Too clever for us, Jackie." The Doctor said before Rose took the phone back.

"Yes, Mum, we are more than just friends now. Things became a whole lot less complicated since I came back."

"How does that mean?" Jackie asked.

"Well, I've been transformed into a Time Lord. Well… Time Lady, actually." Rose began.

For a while, Jackie Tyler didn't reply. "My daughter, the alien. Dating an alien."

"Married to an alien… well, in Gallifreyan terms." Rose said.

"_Married to an alien_?" Jackie repeated, shocked. "Well… I suppose it could be worse. You take care of her, you hear me, Doctor? If I get wind of my daughter being hurt, I'll tear down the barriers between the dimensions myself and give you the biggest slap of your life!"

"I don't doubt it." The Doctor said.

"Will you be able to call back, Rose?" Jackie asked.

"Not all the time. But I'll call again, I promise." Rose said. "I love you, Mum."

"I love you too, sweetie." Jackie said. And the connection was gone for now.

While Rose set down the phone, the Doctor began to work on their next destination. "We just got reunited and we're all ready heading somewhere?" Rose asked.

"Just because we land doesn't mean we have to leave." The Doctor said. He moved closer to her and pulled her into an embrace. "I really missed you, Rose. No words in any language can say how happy I am right now."

"None, except 'I love you'." Rose said.

"That works." The Doctor said. He was about to kiss her when suddenly a series of alarms went off and the Tardis was launched into a sudden spin…

* * *

><p><strong>LES: To be continued in a series of sequels! I've decided that this story needs to turn into a series… Series 4 with Rose. Well… Series 4 has Rose in it, but this one is Rose as the Doctor's companionlover/wife. Of course, that means that a certain someone who comes into the show in Series 4 is getting their role recasted. I'm not really that fond of River Song's introduction, or numerous things that I've found out about her since. Not that I'm vindictive enough to boot her from the story, but just enough to have serious changes in mind: changing her relationship to the Doctor and having the Doctor notice what should have been obvious if it were true.**

**Donna is the one that I'm really excited about. She's my second favorite companion.  
><strong>

**Anyway, next will be "The Time Crash" with Rose, coming soon…**


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